Thursday, December 30, 2010

So much better than 2009. I shouldn't complain, but seriously, 2009 really sucked. This is really the time of year to take stock, look back at what worked, and look forward to new ideas, projects, and plans to make it an even better year than last. 2010 was pretty darned good. I'm ready to make 2011 even better. Now all I need is the time to make it all happen. I don't know about you, but I'm constantly trying to figure out how to fit this in or that. Recently it's been trying to paint my kitchen, making new Kindle 3 cases, or reading any one of the great books I have stacked up to read. I need better time management skills. Or maybe I need less of a social life (I didn't just say that out loud). I'm not sure what it is, but there is never enough time to do everything I want and plan to do. It's the age old song that's been sung for time immemorial.....

....I've just started listening to the Autobiography of Mark Twain (yes, listening, because the only time I have is the time I spend in my car from work to home and to the store, etc.)...and even before they've reached Chapter one, the narrator is talking about how Mark Twain started an autobiography over and over and over again during his lifetime. Sometimes dictating it, sometimes writing the words down, agonizing over how honest to be or how close to play his cards. He never really finished it, although he managed to write a tome of over half a million words when he could focus on it. He also had the foresight to have his autobiography published 100 years after his death (1910). Another unknown fact to me was that it took him, on average, a total of 3 to 7 years to write each of his major works. It normally took him this long because he inevitably had trouble keeping focused on a project and often put it aside for long periods of time. He mused on time a lot. Things don't change......

I find myself wishing I lived in a simpler time. 1910 for instance. But it wasn't any simpler than it is now, maybe worse, not sure, on the cusp of World War I, everyone realizing some of the fallout from the industrial revolution, etc. etc.... Maybe the 1500's.... Only if I could be nobility in some rich, stable foreign country. Honestly, all I want is some time to read a book.